In pictures: the life of Norman Wisdom

In pictures: the life of Norman Wisdom

Highlights from the life and career of Norman Wisdom, one of Britain's best-loved comedy stars, who has died aged 95

Tuesday 5 October 2010 11.56 EDT

The actor, once said to have described himself as a 'short-arse who's been lucky' became a film star with Trouble In Store in 1953. The movie was the first of the Wisdom comedies that would provide the Rank Organisation with yearly commercial hits well into the 1960s. Here he is pictured with Margaret Rutherford

Wisdom with Jerry Desmonde in A Stitch In Time (1963), directed By Robert Asher. Sir Norman enjoyed huge popularity in Albania, where his films were shown during the brutal communist dictatorship of Enver Hoxha. Films such as A Stitch In Time and Trouble In Store were among the few western movies allowed to be screened in the country at the time

Playing up to the camera during filming for his last role in a short film entitled Expresso. He came out of retirement aged 91 to appear in the film, doing a comic turn as a vicar being plagued by a fly